Salazar Demes
"With truth, there is knowledge. With knowledge, there is power. And with power, freedom." Salazar Demes is a high ranking member of the Kirin Tor and the current Chancellor of the Magus Senate of Dalaran. A highly skilled nethermancer, he first studied as a mage at the Stormwind Academy of Arcane Arts and Sciences, before pursuing more liberal magical arts. Today, he finds himself among the ranks of the Magus Senate, using his knowledge of the dark arts to aid them in whichever way he can. Appearance Salazar opts to wear simpler clothing, and it is evident of Salazar's darker nature through the threads that he wears. There isn't a bright feature to them, as the black and violet colors weave together into a sinister persona. As Chancellor, however, Salazar has opted to wear colors more indicative of magi and Dalaran, mostly out of respect for the office and to not appear as off-putting to prospective members. History Early Life Salazar Demes was born in the year -1 L.C., to Bellatrix and Silicius Demes, the newest member of the long but relatively obscure House of Demes. Born a few years before the First War in Gilneas, the House of Demes actually hails from a secluded fortress on an island a few miles off the coast of Silverpine Forest, known as Blackmoon Citadel. His parents were both members of the Gilnean peerage, as well as Arcane-trained academics. When the Greymane wall went up, however, the House of Demes declared independence, and became a small island-state with its own trading and shipping routes to keep the island going. While the wall eventually came down nearly two decades later, Blackmoon Isle has remained independent ever since. From the age of three, both Salazar and Gazoreth were under a strict regimen of home schooling six days a week, with no reprieve from such rigorous study until the age of 18. Given the academic background of their parents, they believed that success in life could only be achieved through boundless determination and a ceaseless approach to both theoretical and practical study. From the beginning of their studies, they were drilled with arithmetic, literature, chemistry, biology, and all of the other liberal sciences prior to any sort of magical training. Gazoreth flourished in home schooling, while Salazar constantly yearned to get out and see the world, not having been so keen on staying on Blackmoon Isle during his childhood. At the age of 12, Salazar decided he was old enough to venture outside of the Citadel on his own, without an escort, and made his way to the Silver Mountains on the far eastern reaches of the Isle to feel what it would be like to truly have an adventure. With only a knapsack carrying the most basic essentials, he traveled on foot from the Citadel without informing his parents whatsoever. At this time, Blackmoon Isle had still been largely devoid of natural life, the magic of Eliezer Demes still permeating through the soil and surrounding fauna, at least its husks. What he didn’t know, or understand, was the very land was saturated with the fel magic from generations ago, which is why no one ventured out to the uninhabited reaches of the Isle. Unfortunately for Salazar, day had quickly turned into night, and the twisting vines that curled around the barren trees that dotted the dead forest became considerably more apparent, especially in juxtaposition to the faint glow of the moon overhead. Without any skills to build a basic fire, or the foresight to carry a candle with him, Salazar couldn’t as much as see the palm of his hand directly in front of him, only the glow of the moon in the cloudless sky. He wondered if it had any relation to the Island’s name, or if it was just a quaint coincidence. As it would be blatantly obvious to Salazar at this point, he was lost and alone, but most of all stupid. In the darkness that soon enveloped him, he decided to make a makeshift sleeping area, laying his head on a mount of dry soil as a pillow. Not a few hours into his nap, he was awoken by the sounds of repetitive and rhythmic growling, and nothing but the sight of several pairs of yellow eyes staring back at him from the distance. Getting up to defend himself, he was unable, as the feeling of a bite on the back of his neck with a loud growl was all he felt before all faded to black. Several days later, Salazar awoke in the Citadel infirmary to both of his parents standing over him, his mother in tears. He was fine, but as he discovered was attacked by some of the wild chimeras that made their home in the deadwood. Silicius Demes, his father, instead of inquiring as to how Salazar was doing, instead began to chastise him on his foolishness in undertaking such a trip by himself, with no means to protect himself. For a few moments, Salazar truly felt a family bond, the worry of a father for his son. But that all came crashing down for him when his father uttered the words, “You cannot die, the House of Demes relies on you being alive!” And it was then that the smile faded away from Salazar’s face, when he realized that what concerned his father more was Salazar carrying on the name, than whether or not he was alright. While he could do nothing about it in his youth, Salazar’s life revolved around the family name. His father had made it a repeated lesson of the importance of carrying on the House, and establishing such a legacy. For Salazar it was more like an indoctrination, but an important lesson for his parents to ensure he learned. By the time he was 17, Gazoreth had long left Blackmoon without so much as a letter, causing everyone to believe that he was either missing or dead. For Salazar, it meant that those lessons became even more apparent, because now the legacy of the House rested on his shoulders. The following year, his home schooling ended, and his parents insisted that he apply to the Antonidas Academy of Magic in Dalaran for intensive study in the arcane arts, but the last thing that Salazar wanted was several more years of his life in rigorous study with no room to breathe, at least he so thought. He had heard about the type of study that the magi of Dalaran underwent, but yearned for freedom and to get out more and see the world. He did nevertheless apply to the Antonidas Academy at his parent’s behest, but he intentionally sabotaged his own application just to spite his parents. When his rejection letter came in, his father in particular was extremely disappointed, and talk of legacy never arose again. At the age of 19, Salazar was admitted to the Stormwind Academy of Arcane Arts and Sciences, which while an achievement in its own right, was not seen as such by his parents, who preferred the academy of Dalaran. There he poured over volumes and tomes, fascinated by the intricacies of arcane magic. However, Salazar felt as though he wasn't satisfied by the "allowed" magic afforded to him by the Academy. While he grew up around the use of Arcane magic, the sinister nature of Blackmoon Citadel inspired fantasies in Salazar of being a darker caster, one to match the facade of Blackmoon. While his parents were certainly of a darker nature when it came to Arcane magic, they were still Arcanists, and had discouraged fantasies of using more forbidden spells. However, this was not enough for Salazar, and after graduating, he set out to learn about other types of magics, specifically those that were not necessarily sanctioned by the magi of the Kirin Tor, or the Stormwind Academy. Fel Corruption Alas, Salazar was a young man, and eager to discover more, more than the academy would ever teach him. The dangers of the world were not yet apparent to him, and he didn't quite understand the reasoning behind why certain types of magic were forbidden. One day, he made his way to the Altar of Storms in the Burning Steppes, in order to study the ambient energy, and discover whatever knowledge could, given they would not teach him about the magic utilized in this area to a depth he wished at the Academy. However, Salazar did not prepare himself properly in the event he needed to defend himself, coming without a suitable staff, and only wearing simple black robes. While studying the site, he was hit in the chest by a green bolt of fire, coming from a person he could not see. The fire seeped into his veins, and imbued him with the fel corruption. He accidentally discovered what he was looking for, but it would come at a terrible price. Expedition to Outland Salazar succumbed to the whims of his new fel corruption, and put his past behind him. Rejecting his family, and his noble bloodline, he became Salazar Felweaver. Several years later, with the opening of the Dark Portal, Salazar took the opportunity to make his way to Outland to see what opportunities awaited him there. Traveling to the land of Fel magic, he indulged himself in the dark wonders of Shadowmoon Valley. Hoping to infuse himself with the powers of Fel itself, he sought out the knowledge needed to perform the rituals that would grant him such powers. Going to the Deathforge, Salazar hoped that one of the beings there would possess such knowledge, since it was run by the Shadow-Council. Sneaking his way in, using a summoned eye to form a magic circle to teleport himself to, Salazar discovered an open text in one of the rooms that spoke of Fel infusion. According to the text, Salazar assumed it was used to induct new members into the Shadow-Council, although Salazar would find a way to change the ritual to suit his needs. Making a home for himself in Shadowmoon as a nomad, Salazar spent months tweaking the ritual to suit his needs. After all, he had to ensure that the Fel magic wouldn't take over his mind, and that he would remain in control of his powers, and his body. Alas, what he discovered he needed in order to make this work was the use of a potent font of Fel energy, and what promised to be a very painful ritual. Empowerment He knew what he had to do, but it was no easy climb to the top of the Hand of Gul'dan. This volcano, which according to the Earthen Ring was raised by Gul'dan himself, emanates the type of energy that Salazar needed. And so, his journey began. What started as a simple climb up the base, turned into a vicious fight for survival as he made his way to the peak. Using what magical protections he had were no match for the volcano's grueling heat and emerald lava. But as he reached the top, the scars he had were well worth the reward he was about to reap. He began by storing his soul in a soulstone, and placing it at the base of the font. Stepping forward, Salazar began his ritual, and crossed the point of no return. Runes began to mark themselves around him, and Salazar began to float as the air turned to a musky stale. The Volcano itself felt a little more active, and it spewed its green lava in more amounts than before, but Salazar was far from over. The lava contained the Fel energy that Salazar needed, but most importantly, it was in its purest form. At the peek of his incantations, Salazar found himself floating toward the center of the font, in the path of the spewing lava. But there was no going back now. When he reached the center, the lava burst from below him, engulfing him completely. But Salazar could not completely die, for his soul was stored outside his body, albeit temporarily. Instead of being dead, when the lava subsided, Salazar was reborn. Stepping away from the volcano's center, he picked up his soulstone, and fused it back with this body. He felt the pure Fel energy course through his veins, noticing the effects as all of his fire spells had turned green. Feeling his newly infused powers, his mission was complete. But all was not as Salazar had hoped. At the peak of Salazar's power, he lost what he had always loved, and that was the pursuit of knowledge. Dalaran Blinded by power, Salazar wished to return to a more scholarly life, utilizing the knowledge that he had learned of the Dark Arts. And so, after searching the world for those that would accept his dark gifts, he made a home in the place that first rejected him, the city of Dalaran, and became Salazar Demes once again. The Blackheart Incident Some time after joining the Senate, Salazar was making a home for himself among the violet magi that welcomed him in, despite being a warlock through and through. It took some time for him to adjust to the new environment, and no longer living in a cave was certainly something that was welcome. On one evening on October 12, 35 L.C. as he was having a stroll past the Antonidas Memorial, Salazar heard a distress call to assist with a situation by the sewers. As the closest Senator there, he went to assist in the matter, only to find Senator Mayiko being abducted by an unknown individual, though in his heart he knew it was a necromancer. Salazar tried to assist by fighting off the necromancer, though it was ultimately fruitless as he knocked Salazar and Mayiko both out, and took them through a portal to a jail on an airship. As he would later find out, Mayiko lost a finger in that fight. He later woke up in frigid conditions a few feet away from May, with whom he tried to make sense of what happened. While the rest of the Senate was working on finding the airship, Salazar and May were paid visits by the inhabitants of the ship. A unit—a necromancer, a soul priest, and a mageslayer, all seemingly connected but their identities unknown at the same time. Their visits, however, were not of pleasure. With each visit, each of the individuals would subject Salazar and May to physical and psychological torment. The two of them didn’t know what they wanted, but the trio keeping them captive subjected them to constant suffering, while projecting images of the Inner Council into their minds. They were to associate pain with Dalaran, and specifically the Inner Council. Images of Zanbor and Hellissa were engrained in Salazar’s mind as the perpetrators of the horrific violence against him and May, and eventually it reached the point where the two of them started to hate Dalaran entirely. To see Dalaran as the cause for their suffering. And in the process, they branded the symbol of the Kirin Tor across Salazar’s abdomen, a scar that he retains to this day. When the trio left, Salazar began to look around the room to see what he could work with, for he was after all a trained engineer. May was also apt at the craft herself, and together she and Sal devised a plan that would destroy the Senators that tried to come for them, for they knew that they were the ones causing them this pain, at least they think they were. And so they set several traps in an attempt to lure the Senators in and kill them. And then they heard the thud, the Senators had landed on the airship and had begun to take the top deck. Sal and May prepared themselves, and as the Senators came down, they were at the ready for them. Unfortunately, the Senators were more ready than anticipated. Chief Enforcer Icestrider had summarily disabled all the traps that Salazar and May had set, being skilled himself in such matters. What they did not expect was that Salazar would unleash his fel magic upon them, and try to escape. After all, Sal and May hated the Senate.. they hated the Inner Council, and they most of all hated Dalaran. But it didn’t matter, and while Salazar tried to make his grand escape, he was instead bound in ice, and sent to the Violet Hold with May. The two of them were treated for their injuries in the Hold, and had undergone psychological evaluations by Lysabet Halliwell. They were deemed safe to let to, though for the time being were under a watchful eye. Fringe Office Salazar enjoys an established career within the Magus Senate, with his first responsibility being as the Director of the Fringe Office. Under Salazar’s oversight, this branch of the Academics Ministry explored new forms of magic and technology, and the fusion of the two. As one example, Salazar designed and constructed the Saraphix Aurum Generator, which utilizes a universal magical core (Saraphix), made up of pure Light, Nature, and Arcane. This generator then speeds up the magical recovery time of those in proximity to it, allowing for more magical endurance in the field. Ministry of Eclectic Wizardry After some time, he was approached by Gehlnarine Liridian, with an offer to become his Deputy Minister in the newly established Ministry of Eclectic Wizardry, which researched aberrant forms of magic, and had a division dedicated to tracking down dark and rogue spellcasters. After Liridian retired from his post as Minister, the Ministry was disbanded and reformed as the Department of Aberrant Magic under the Ministry of Academics, run by Hellissa Brisby, now the Chancellor of the Magus Senate. Nevertheless, Salazar had become its newest Director, a position he still holds today. Hand of the Black Harvest Unbeknownst to most in the Senate, Salazar was also part of a group that formed the Order of the Black Harvest, under the direction of the reformed Council. Playing a dual role as a Magister in the Senate and as Hand of the Harvest, he was torn between two allegiances, one which would be in direct conflict with the other, despite the Kirin Tor’s stance on the Harvest as a necessary evil. And so on July 17, 37 L.C., Salazar secretly met with the founders of this new Order, Karthys Sorrowsong, Astoreth Duskflame, Cladriah Felweaver, and Fastril Bloodwing to create the Order of the Black Harvest. Shortly afterward, Salazar sent a message by imp to all known warlocks via the Twisting Nether to alert them to the newly founded Order that would function under the existing Council, and so they responded en masse. On July 17, 37 L.C. it had its first meeting at 9 bells, undergoing the first Induction ceremony, thereby binding themselves to the Order as brothers and sisters. Soul Split A few months later, in November of 37 L.C., Salazar led a Senate expedition to Stormheim to research the vampirism among the undead north of Greywatch, specifically to find the artifact that caused such a unique form of vampirism among them. But in doing so, the team was led to a tomb carved into the side of the mountain. At the bottom of a basin, revealed by drawing blood, lay the Eye of the Blood King, a scarlet amulet, akin to a philosopher's stone. The only way to the amulet was to drink from the basin, inducing fear, weakness, extreme thirst, delirium, and hallucinations. And it was at this moment of utter weakness, that the Fel was ripped from him, in the form of his long thought dead brother, Gazoreth. New Minister When Hellissa Brisby-Pyrestaff ascended to the position of Chancellor, she offered Salazar a Ministerial position which he accepted, and became the Minister of the Interior. After reorganizing the Ministry of Justice, and various elements of former departments, the new Ministry of the Interior would oversee policing and security in Dalaran, as well as other duties. In this position, Salazar has overseen the development of the Arcandome, which secures teleportation in and out of Dalaran, as well as upgraded the Violet Hold to make it more humane for prisoners of lesser crimes. In keeping with his duties, however, Salazar also developed the Darksight Protocol which utilizes ley lines to enhance scrying, thus keeping a watchful eye on dark magi all across Azeroth. With this program, and the Department of Magical Defense, Salazar sends agents across the world to apprehend or eliminate anyone who promises to be a magical threat to the Magocracy of Dalaran. The Arcandome Thrust into his new duties as the Minister of the Interior, and thus responsible for the welfare and security of Dalaran, the City’s new position at the front made the position largely unforgiving. As the Legion assault on the Broken Isles began, so too did the ceaseless attacks on Dalaran. But it wasn’t just the Legion that grasped his attention. After providing an orientation to the Senators on the new structure of the Interior Ministry, Salazar approached Tuera Ashama and requested that she return the Eye of the Blood King, which she had pocketed and made a copy of some time ago in Stormheim. Unfortunately the meeting did not go as planned, and as Salazar summoned the guards to have her arrested, she managed to vanish from the City to not be found again. This deeply troubled him, as it exposed a crippling vulnerability in the City’s defenses that allowed someone to teleport out without being stopped. It was as such that he immediately he tasked the Interior Ministry with developing a method of controlling who could teleport in and out of Dalaran, which later came to be known as the Arcandome. A step in the right direction, it would prevent any teleportation in and out of the City that wasn’t transmitted through the Violet Gate. At least for now, Dalaran was secure from attacks via this method. Shadows of Menethil On January 2, 38 L.C., several months after the Cryptex containing a map purporting to lead to Kel’Thuzad’s phylactery went missing from the Department of Magical Defense, strange necromantic activity has been picked up coming from Menethil Harbor. Salazar led the Senators on an investigation of the area at Menethil, which revealed that an unknown source of necromantic energy has weakened the barrier between the Shadowlands and material plane, causing souls of the dead to slip into the material world. And as some discovered, that broken veil was the water itself, for as Senators went across the partially flooded harbor, they saw that not all of them had reflections, and some reflections did things on their own, such as taunt them and wave back. As they started to realize what was going on, aided by the dead residents of the harbor who were stuck in a loop, they began to close in around the Senators who were then pulled into the water by hands that came out of it. It is then that they found themselves in a Shadowlands version of Menethil, with the dilapidated keep all repaired, and with a visible, and heavy, necromantic aura. Making their way in, they dispatched visions of their loved ones who had been sent to stop them, making their way to the top where powerful necromancers forced them back into the material plane, but not before the Senators could see them huddled over a sort of incubator, within which was the essence of a Lich. And as the Senators returned to the material world, they would see the necro-crystals at the top level that weakened the veil, shattering them once and for all, thus returning Menethil to its rightful state. Unfortunately, they also discovered a horrible truth, in that the Cryptex could very well have been telling the truth, and that Kel’Thuzad was regaining his strength for a return one day as well. Rise of the Homunculi On November 25th, 38 L.C., the Senate meeting was interrupted by a sudden and unexpected event that thrust the Senate chamber into a magically induced state of total darkness. Unable to have any form of illumination pierce this veil of shadow, the Senate members present could do nothing except hear the indistinct muffled noises reverberating throughout the hall. Unable to pinpoint the source of these sounds, some Senators began to think quick on their feet to walk toward the center and stand back to back in a defensive position. However, as soon as this idea was relayed to the other members present, the muffled sounds ceased simultaneously, and the darkness was lifted from the chamber shortly thereafter. Upon first glance, nothing seemed different at all, all the books, artifacts, knick knacks and members were seemingly unharmed. But in the aftermath of this befuddling event, the question remains: what happened in the darkness? A week later, after a series of anomalous readings being picked up from the Arcane Vaults, a team of senators went down with Ministers Demes and Pyrestaff to ascertain the cause of the disruption. Upon entering the vaults, the senators witnessed a disturbing array of flickering lights, indistinct sounds, and coming face-to-face with an amorphous creature that emitted loud, piercing shrieks. Managing to get one contained after it attacked some of the senators, the group made their way to a vault that contained items stored for the Kirin Tor’s museum, as well as other various magical artifacts. Inside the vault, however, they met the amalgamation of the amorphous creature, which surprisingly did not attack the group. But it was when they decided to capture the creature in the hopes of not setting off the Vault defenses or breaking any of the artifacts, did the same darkness set upon the vault as before, not letting any light pierce its veil of shadow. When the darkness lifted the amalgamation was gone, and everything seemed once again to be untouched. Given that, the senators went for a debriefing in the Senate chamber, which is where the real consequences of the night were revealed. In the middle of the debriefing, Minister Demes received word from the Guard performing a sweep of the Vault that several items in the room that the senators were trapped for a few moments had been replaced with fakes, and an item stored in secret was removed as well: an experimental plague that was retrieved during the Northrend Campaign. Who stole it, how, and why? Following the disappearance of Minister Demes and his unusual disconnection from the Senate ring network, Interior agents responsible for ensuring his safety managed to trace his location to the classified Department of Magical Defense facility, the Labyrinth. With a secret report provided to the Chancellor from one of these agents, Chancellor Brisby led a team to locate and bring home the missing Minister. Upon arriving at the facility, the team quickly discovered that the Labyrinth had seen some kind of assault, with no agents or guards in sight. Entering a seemingly long hallway, those who went ahead found themselves suddenly behind the others, which they realized was the result of the hallway forming an endless loop. Only by discovering the hidden panels beneath the stone walls could they morph the hallway with the Chancellor’s credentials, giving them access to other parts of the facility. With the Labyrinth in a mild state of disrepair following the apparent assault, some of the holding cells were unlocked, causing some of the most notorious and psychotic prisoners that the Kirin Tor wouldn’t trust to keep in the Violet Hold to escape. Facing off against a mad shadow priest who revels in the sounds of tormented screams, to an old lady who specializes in tormenting her victims through the creation of voodoo dolls, the Senators fought their way through the dizzying facility to find the Minister. Eventually, after morphing the hallway to the correct part of the facility, they came upon Minister Demes, who was found bound and gagged in heavy anti-magic gear, and hanging upside down from the ceiling. With the Senators having saved the Minister, it only led to more questions than answers. Who or what replaced him, are there more? Several weeks later, and with the holidays having passed by rather uneventfully, it all came crashing down soon after the New Year. With the Guard having slowly disappeared from the streets of Dalaran for weeks, the magnum opus of these disappearances culminated in the quiet opening of the Violet Hold at two bells in the afternoon. With no guards in sight, not even those of the Hold, Level 1 and 2 prisoners began to slowly make their way out of their former prison. Those who performed a preliminary investigation of the Hold quickly discovered that with no sign of struggle, it appeared as if the prisoners had simply been let out of their cells, and subsequently out onto the streets. Shortly thereafter, a Fel Lord took control of Krasus Landing, a group of drunken revelers commandeered the Beer Garden, and an angry gnome who takes after the Manastorm family had a little too much anger-fun in the Market. With the portal system taken offline to prevent further prisoners from escaping, the Senate was dispatched to deal with these three threats before being able to investigate why exactly the Violet Hold just opened up out of nowhere. After all, something is not so easily done. Once the threats were dealt with, Senator Shadesong led a party of Senators into the Hold to figure out whether anything could be discerned, and using Minister Pyrestaff’s access codes, realized that it was Salazar himself who opened the Violet Hold, in-person. Revealing himself to the group, he explained to them what he was.. or rather, he showed them by cutting his hand. But instead of blood that came out, it was a green liquid that oozed. He was a homunculus, and the real Salazar was missing. A few days later, in relative peace and quiet, in the otherwise serene airspace above Dalaran, a dark violet orb of energy materialized above the Chamber of the Guardian. For a few moments it appeared to be docile, and didn't otherwise exhibit any hostile signs. However, after these few moments passed, it began to gradually grow until anyone with a basic understanding of magic and physics would recognize it as a singularity powered by the Twisting Nether. This singularity threatened to slowly pull Dalaran into the Nether itself, but before it could affect the City, the Senators on site raced up the Chamber, and entered the pocket-dimension in netherspace from which faux-Salazar was controlling this singularity in the hopes of destroying the City and scoring a win for the Burning Legion. Unfortunately, it was not his destiny, and the Senators successfully defeated him in netherspace, ultimately decapitating him on the spot. After the last of the faux-Ministers were dealt with, including the faux-Commander, the Senators discovered a missive written in code that when deciphered, contained coordinates of a Legion ship above Azeroth. With the help of the Grand Engineer, the Senators opened a portal to the Legion ship, and led the rescue of the real Ministers, who were held as prisoners, in stasis. Each of the Ministers were suspended in stasis pods which were hooked up to individualized simulations, some more advanced than others, but all quite maddening. Eventually the Ministers were rescued from their pods, and taken to the Violet Hold for a physical and mental evaluation, and to make sure that they were in fact-- real. Silithus In the months since he and his fellow members of Cabinet have been restored to their offices following the Homonculus incident and the Legion war reaching its conclusion, all was at peace in Dalaran. The time had been spent on rebuilding the city and shoring up defenses for whenever duty calls again, but for the time, everything seemed well. This was of course apart from the research that the magi of the Kirin Tor had delved into once Azerite had started pop up across the world. Nobody knew what it was, but everyone wanted a piece of it. As a result, there was no time for rest or a vacation; Salazar and his team at the Department of Magical Defense were dispatched to ascertain the nature of the newly discovered mineral and do what they had to in the name of protecting Azeroth from magical threats. After all, it’s what Khadgar went off to do, in his own way. When DMD agents arrived, they realized they weren’t the first ones there. The Bilgewater Cartel had already begun excavating the mineral from Silithus in a massive mining operation without even knowing what it was they were excavating. Given this new discovery, the DMD established posts along the rim of Silithus that tracked the movement of Azerite out of the region. They couldn’t stop the goblins, but the Eye of Dalaran would be ever vigilant in monitoring their movements. It was in the following days and weeks that a plan was hatched to perform an intelligence operation in the nearby Steam Pools, and glean information from the goblin miners who would come to this nearby resort during their time off. Project Xerxes With Dalaran officially neutral, and thus the scope of its directly ability to intervene in Alliance or Horde affairs fairly limited, at least overtly, Salazar went to work on a method to achieve his intelligence aims without tilting Dalaran’s perceived allegiance one way or the other. And then it hit him. While not an entirely perfect method, albeit an entirely crazy idea, Salazar posed the question, “What if we were to create our own homunculi?” He took that question to Eden, one of the classified DMD facilities specializing in biomagical research, and they set off to work to reverse engineer one of the Legion homunculi in the Vault. Their reconstruction, however, would be using arcane instead of fel, and it would be under Kirin Tor control. Known as “Project Xerxes”, knowledge of the project was limited to the upper echelon of Kirin Tor command, and after that on a strictly need-to-know basis. Personality From his early childhood, Salazar was taught about the way noblemen should behave and speak, and his early teachings have in many cases stayed with Salazar over the years. However, due to this departure from the noble life-style, and for many years as a nomadic one, he's attained a more blunt approach to conversation, even when it is not the most diplomatic. Despite his rough youth in Outland, he has since returned to his love of literature, and has made an art of delivering poignant sarcastic remarks whenever it suits the most, if generally to his own amusement. However, when it comes to work, Salazar approaches it with an endless zeal, constantly trying to think of new and more efficient ways to accomplish whatever task is at hand, whether it involves magical research, engineering, or Dalaran's security. As such, he has a great loyalty to his work, and while may joke around and appear loose when it comes to relaxation, he is a force to be reckoned with should you get between him and the task at hand. On a personal level, Salazar has never had a relationship, and never desires to have one, publicly admitting that he has no desire for children, ever. To him, a family is a liability, and he could not compromise the security of his responsibilities because of personal matters. And so while Salazar has friends, he strongly opposes the idea of having settling down. Magical Style As a former warlock and now practicing Nethermancer, Salazar utilizes the pure and potent power of the Twisting Nether to fuel his spells in lieu of the traditional use of ley lines. As such, his magic does not wax and wane depending on his proximity to such lines, and he can demonstrate consistent magical prowess regardless of location. Because of his connection to the Nether and magic in general, there is little that Salazar does without the use of magic, believing magic to allow for a superior way of life. When utilizing his magic, one cannot necessarily categorize his spells into one school or another, as he mixes several schools to perform his preferred style of magic - curses. Some of these include causing the victim to go blind, to believe that their allies are the enemy, causing lucid and persistent nightmares every night, cursing them such that they become invisible to everyone else, and others more dark in nature. In battle, and if the circumstances permit, Salazar prefers to inflict such curses upon his enemies, watching them go mad on the field and succumb to their own mind, just as he delivers the finishing strike. He is otherwise highly proficient in divination-based magic, specifically enjoying the ability to read minds and project his voice into other minds just the same. Relationships Salazar has no immediate family except for his brother Gazoreth, a person with whom he has not spoken since their separation. Similarly, he has no love interests, and opts to spend his time alone or among his colleagues, though not so often the latter. Within the Senate, Salazar maintains a professional distance from most of his colleagues, opting to count only a few among his friends. He maintains a close friendship with Hellissa Brisby, despite being his boss, but they only can act that way when not in the presence of other senators. When on-duty, Brisby can tend to yell at Salazar, at least for appearances. Off-duty, they'll joke and discuss all manners of topics, recently bonding over examining a homunculus. His working relationship with the Mage-Commander, Vanidicus Alexander, however, is not necessarily so harmonious. While the two maintain a professional working relationship, Salazar's history as a former warlock, especially having joined the Senate as one, has sowed a level of skepticism in Alexander's eyes of Salazar, at least in his view. And with Alexander having disciplined Salazar in the past when he was still a warlock, there is a level of residual animosity that hasn't gone away. While it is on the path to getting better, remnants of the friction between them does tend to surface from time to time. One of the people for whom Salazar has the utmost respect, and gratitude for being partially responsible for his advancement within the Senate, is Gehlnarine Liridian. Having first joined the Senate into Gehlnarine's Parliament of Violet Shadow, ''which all warlocks were mandated to join, Salazar grew a certain fondness for him, who within the Senate became his confidante. It was some time later when the Parliament was disbanded and Gehlnarine reworked the Ministry of Justice that he asked Salazar to be his Deputy, thereby catapulting Salazar into the upper ranks, which eventually lead to where he is today. Of course, none of this would happen without Hellissa, who defended Salazar within the Senate against those that believed he was too far down the left-hand path. Outside of the Senate, Salazar maintains several acquaintances with whom he talks from time to time, but no one he would consider to be friends with, on a personal level. Recently he has become acquainted with Cardinal Niklos Adamant, ever since the Remnants asked for the Senate's help in a matter involving a young, disturbed, child. Since then, they run into each other from time to time, especially when it comes to matters of Stormwind politics. While Salazar is no longer a warlock, he still remembers and maintains a line of communication with his former colleagues in the Black Harvest, namely Karthys Sorrowsong and Cladriah Felweaver. His separation from Gazoreth was confusing to some in the Harvest, with the Harvest now accepting Gazoreth in Salazar's place, but he nevertheless manages to maintain a sort of backchannel, when the circumstances call for it. Quotes ''"There is a time of my life I'm not very proud of.. a time when very few people saw my face and lived." "Security necessarily implies that when everything is over and done with, you still have something left to protect. It's easy to be the sheriff when the only thing left are the ashes." "Magic is not inherently good or evil, whether it is arcane, fel, or necromancy. It's how you use it. You find me a chaotic warlock, and I'll find you a demented priest." "I've had people in my life who stood in my way, tried to diminish me and put me in chains. People who thought they were the arbiters of my freedom. Sadly, they're no longer with us." "I try not to get involved in the war of the Alliance and Horde, seems rather pointless. The Alliance isn't going anywhere, and neither is the Horde. And if Dalaran taught us anything, it's that the two can co-exist without bringing a floating city crashing to the ground. When people tell me that the Horde is barbaric, I direct them to the Lion's Pride Inn. Their opinions change fairly quickly." "All the fancy titles and ranks can never save a person who is monumentally dull." "True power is felt and known without the slightest of whispers. Anyone who has to tell you how powerful they are, are sadly misguided." "When I was young, I had to survive alone in Outland for a year with nothing but torn robes, a knapsack riddled with holes, and the meat off of dead chimeras. I think I can survive this meeting of bureaucrats." Gallery __FORCETOC__ Category:Magus Senate of Dalaran Category:Mages Category:Characters Category:Dalaranian Category:Human